Chad
Chad is a landlocked country in north central Africa measuring
1,284,000 square kilometers (496,000 sq. mi.), roughly three times
the size of California. Most of its ethnically and linguistically
diverse population lives in the south, with densities ranging from
54 persons per square kilometers in the Logone River basin to 0.1
persons in the northern B.E.T. desert region, which is larger than
France. The capital city of N'Djaména, situated at the confluence of
the Chari and Logone Rivers, is cosmopolitan in nature, with a
current population nearing one million people.
Chad has four bioclimatic zones. The northernmost Saharan zone
averages less than 200 mm (8") of rainfall annually. The sparse
human population is largely nomadic, with some livestock, mostly
small ruminants and camels. The central Sahelian zone receives
between 200 and 600 mm (24") rainfall and has vegetation ranging
from grass/shrub steppe to thorny, open savanna. The southern zone,
often referred to as the Sudanian zone, receives between 600 and
1,000 mm (39"), with woodland savanna and deciduous forests for
vegetation. Rainfall in the Guinea zone, located in Chad's
southwestern tip, ranges between 1,000 and 1,200 mm (47").
The country's topography is generally flat, with the elevation
gradually rising as one moves north and east away from Lake Chad.
The highest point in Chad is Emi Koussi, a mountain that rises 3,100
meters (10,200 ft.) in the northern Tibesti Mountains. The Ennedi
Plateau and the Ouaddaï highlands in the east complete the image of
a gradually sloping basin, which descends toward Lake Chad. There
also are central highlands in the Guera region rising to 1,500
meters (4,900 ft.).
Lake Chad is the second-largest lake in West Africa and is one of
the most important wetlands on the continent. Home to 120 species of
fish and at least that many species of birds, the lake has shrunk
dramatically in the last four decades due to the increased water use
and low rainfall. Bordered by Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon,
Lake Chad currently covers only 1,350 square kilometers, down from
25,000 square kilometers in 1963. The Chari and Logone Rivers, both
of which originate in the Central African Republic and flow
northward, provide most of the water entering Lake Chad.
There are more than 200 ethnic groups in Chad. Those in the north
and east are generally Muslim; most southerners are Christians or
animists. Through their long religious and commercial relationships
with Sudan and Egypt, many of the peoples in Chad's eastern and
central regions have become more or less Arabized, speaking Arabic
and engaging in many other Arab cultural practices as well. More
than three-quarters of the Chadian population is rural. Near the
eastern border there are over 250,000 refugees from the Sudanese
conflict in Darfur and 56,000 Central African Republic refugees in
the south. Due to internal rebel activity, there are also
approximately 185,000 internally displaced persons in Chad. |
|
Chad has a long and rich history. A humanoid skull found in Borkou
was dated to be more than 3 million years old. Because in ancient
times the Saharan area was not totally arid, Chad's population was
more evenly distributed than it is today. For example, 7,000 years
ago, the north central basin, now in the Sahara, was still filled
with water, and people lived and farmed around its shores. Cliff
paintings in Borkou and Ennedi depict elephants, rhinoceroses,
giraffes, cattle, and camels; only camels survive there today. The
region has been known to traders and geographers since the late
Middle Ages. Since then, Chad has served as a crossroads for the
Muslim peoples of the desert and savanna regions, and the animist
Bantu tribes of the tropical forests.
Sao people lived along the Chari River for thousands of years, but
their relatively weak chiefdoms were overtaken by the powerful
chiefs of what were to become the Kanem-Bornu and Baguirmi kingdoms.
At their peak, these two kingdoms and the kingdom of Ouaddai
controlled a good part of what is now Chad, as well as parts of
Nigeria and Sudan. From 1500 to 1900, Arab slave raids were
widespread. The French first penetrated Chad in 1891, establishing
their authority through military expeditions primarily against the
Muslim kingdoms. The first major colonial battle for Chad was fought
in 1900 between the French Major Lamy and the African leader Rabah,
both of whom were killed in the battle. Although the French won that
battle, they did not declare the territory pacified until 1911;
armed clashes between colonial troops and local bands continued for
many years thereafter.
In 1905, administrative responsibility for Chad was placed under a
governor general stationed at Brazzaville in what is now Congo.
Although Chad joined the French colonies of Gabon, Oubangui-Charo,
and Moyen Congo to form the Federation of French Equatorial Africa
(AEF) in 1910, it did not have colonial status until 1920. The
northern region of Chad was occupied by the French in 1914. In 1959,
the territory of French Equatorial Africa was dissolved, and four
states--Gabon, the Central African Republic, Congo (Brazzaville),
and Chad--became autonomous members of the French Community. On
August 11, 1960 Chad became an independent nation under its first
president, Francois Tombalbaye.
A long civil war began as a tax revolt in 1965 and soon set the
Muslim north and east against the southern-led government. Even with
the help of French combat forces, the Tombalbaye government was
never able to quell the insurgency. Tombalbaye's rule became more
irrational and brutal, leading the military to carry out a coup in
1975 and to install Gen. Felix Malloum, a southerner, as head of
state. In 1978, Malloum's government was broadened to include more
northerners. Internal dissent within the government led the northern
prime minister, Hissein Habre, to send his forces against the
national army in the capital city of N'Djamena in February 1979. The
resulting civil war amongst the 11 emergent factions was so
widespread that it rendered the central government largely
irrelevant. At that point, other African governments decided to
intervene.
A series of four international conferences held first under Nigerian
and then Organization of African Unity (OAU) sponsorship attempted
to bring the Chadian factions together. At the fourth conference,
held in Lagos, Nigeria, in August 1979, the Lagos accord was signed.
This accord established a transitional government pending national
elections. In November 1979, the National Union Transition
Government (GUNT) was created with a mandate to govern for 18
months. Goukouni Oueddei, a northerner, was named President; Colonel
Kamougue, a southerner, Vice President; and Habre, Minister of
Defense. This coalition proved fragile; in January 1980, fighting
broke out again between Goukouni's and Habre's forces. With
assistance from Libya, Goukouni regained control of the capital and
other urban centers by year's end. However, Goukouni's January 1981
statement that Chad and Libya had agreed to work for the realization
of complete unity between the two countries generated intense
international pressure and Goukouni's subsequent call for the
complete withdrawal of external forces. Libya's partial withdrawal
to the Aozou Strip in northern Chad cleared the way for Habre's
forces to enter N'Djamena in June. French troops and an OAU
peacekeeping force of 3,500 Nigerian, Senegalese, and Zairian troops
(partially funded by the United States) remained neutral during the
conflict.
Habre continued to face armed opposition on various fronts, and was
brutal in his repression of suspected opponents, massacring and
torturing many during his rule. In the summer of 1983, GUNT forces
launched an offensive against government positions in northern and
eastern Chad with Libyan support. In response to Libya's direct
intervention, French and Zairian forces intervened to defend Habre,
pushing Libyan and rebel forces north of the 16th parallel. In
September 1984, the French and the Libyan governments announced an
agreement for the mutual withdrawal of their forces from Chad. By
the end of the year, all French and Zairian troops were withdrawn.
Libya did not honor the withdrawal accord, and its forces continued
to occupy the northern third of Chad.
Southern rebel commando groups (CODO) in southern Chad were broken
up by government massacres in 1984. In 1985 Habre briefly reconciled
with some of his most powerful opponents, including the Chadian
Democratic Front and the Coordinating Action Committee of the
Democratic Revolutionary Council. Goukouni also began to rally
toward Habre, and with his support Habre successfully expelled
Libyan forces from most of Chadian territory. A cease-fire between
Chad and Libya held from 1987 to 1988, and negotiations over the
next several years led to the 1994 International Court of Justice
decision granting Chad sovereignty over the Aouzou strip,
effectively ending Libyan occupation.
However, rivalry between Hadjerai, Zaghawa, and Gorane groups within
the government grew in the late 1980s. In April 1989, Idriss Deby,
one of Habre's leading generals and a Zaghawa, defected and fled to
Darfur in Sudan, from which he mounted a Zaghawa-supported series of
attacks on Habre (a Gorane). In December 1990, with Libyan
assistance and no opposition from French troops stationed in Chad,
Deby's forces successfully marched on N'Djamena. After 3 months of
provisional government, Deby's Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS)
approved a national charter on February 28, 1991, with Deby as
president.
In the following 2 years, Deby faced at least two coup attempts.
Government forces clashed violently with rebel forces (including the
Movement for Democracy and Development, MDD, National Revival
Committee for Peace and Democracy (CSNPD), Chadian national Front
(FNT), and the Western Armed Forces, FAO) near Lake Chad and in
southern regions of the country. Earlier French demands for the
country to hold a national conference resulted in the gathering of
750 delegates representing political parties (legalized in 1992),
the government, trade unions, and the army to discuss creation of a
pluralist democratic regime.
Unrest continued, however, sparked in part by large-scale killings
of civilians in southern Chad. The CSNPD, led by Kette Moise and
other southern groups, entered into a peace agreement with
government forces in 1994, which later broke down. Two new groups,
the Armed Forces for a Federal Republic (FARF) led by former Kette
ally Laokein Barde and the Democratic Front for Renewal (FDR), and a
reformulated MDD clashed with government forces 1994-95.
Talks with political opponents in early 1996 did not go well, but
Deby announced his intent to hold presidential elections in June.
Deby won the country's first multi-party presidential elections with
support in the second round from opposition leader Kebzabo,
defeating General Kamougue (leader of the 1975 coup against
Tombalbaye). Deby's MPS party won 63 of 125 seats in the January
1997 legislative elections. International observers noted numerous
serious irregularities in presidential and legislative election
proceedings.
By mid-1997 the government signed peace deals with FARF and the MDD
leadership and succeeded in cutting off the groups from their rear
bases in the Central African Republic and Cameroon. Agreements also
were struck with rebels from the National Front of Chad (FNT) and
Movement for Social Justice and Democracy in October 1997. However,
peace was short-lived, as FARF rebels clashed with government
soldiers, finally surrendering to government forces in May 1998.
Barde was killed in the fighting, as were hundreds of other
southerners, most civilians.
From 1998 to 2003, Chadian Movement for Justice and Democracy (MDJT)
rebels skirmished periodically with government troops in the Tibesti
region, resulting in hundreds of civilian, government, and rebel
casualties, but little ground won or lost. Following an accord with
the government in 2003, several hundred rebels rejoined the Chadian
Army. Armed remnants of the MDJT linger in the Tibesti region, but
no active armed opposition has emerged in other parts of Chad.
In May 2001, Deby won a flawed 63% first-round victory in
presidential elections after legislative elections were postponed
until spring 2002. Six opposition leaders were arrested (twice), and
one opposition party activist was killed following the announcement
of election results. However, despite claims of government
corruption, favoritism of Zaghawas, and security forces abuses,
opposition party and labor union calls for general strikes and more
active demonstrations against the government were unsuccessful.
In May 2004, the National Assembly voted in favor of an amendment to
the Constitution that would allow President Deby to run again. The
amendment was approved in a national referendum June 2005 and
abolished presidential term limits. In the last 3 years, Deby faced
at least three coup attempts. In April 2006, the capital city of
N'djamena was attacked by the United Front for Democratic
Change--which was led by the Tama ethnic group--coordinating with
another Chadian rebel organization from President Deby's Zaghawa
ethnic group. The government put down the attacks. On May 3, 2006
Deby was elected to his third presidential term with a substantial
majority, according to Chadian election officials. Provisional
figures showed Deby receiving 77.6% of the vote. More than 60% of
Chad's 5.8 million registered voters cast ballots. Frequent bouts of
fighting between rebel groups characterized 2006. On October 26,
2007 a peace agreement was signed by four Chadian rebel groups and
the Government of Chad. Hosted by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the
talks took place in the Libyan city of Sirte. |
|
